Review of Oasis aft grand suite (A4) 11330 and the cruise that changed our traditions

[volunteer cruiser]

My husband and I returned from a fantastic cruise onboard Oasis from 10/24 to 10/31 that has probably set the template for how we will cruise in the future.

I first booked this cruise 05/01/2014 in a grand suite on deck 11. The price could not be beat with the buy one get one half off sale. I choose deck 11 to be close to the then concierge lounge for quick access for morning coffee and evening drinks. All was well and planned, I thought, until about this time last year, fall of 2014 when reports of changes to dining, location of suite and diamond lounges, and the addition of aft suites. Thanks to all the info from these boards, I was thinking of making a change from our usual grand suite.

 

I have spent time in aquatheater suite deck 8 on Allure and loved the views, so I changed my reservation to the new grand aft suite 11330. Then I started second guessing myself when reviews of the suites were not up to par, especially the lack of balcony furniture. I was going to change back to my original cabin but it was not available; so as a back up, I made another reservation for a crown loft suite with a good rate although more than the grand suite. Finally by Feb. 2015, I made up my mind to stick with the aft suite and I cancelled the crown loft suite.

 

This was our first cruise as diamond plus. Prior cruises have been spent in traditional main dining room with large table,6 to 10 top, because we always enjoyed meeting fellow cruisers. At the time, we enjoyed dressing up, spending an hour in concierge lounge for pre diner drinks and spending the 2 hours to get through diner. Then on to the nightly entertainment. During the day, we were busy going to C & A events, meet & mingle, exploring, and trying to have a drink or at least sit down in each bar. Initial plans for this Oasis cruise were the same with traditional dining at 6PM at large table, signed up for M & M and booked all entertainment except Cats (I had seen it before in the 90's).

 

All was well, so I thought, until I met Jane (Max's mom) on the Jewel and she highly recommended the change to my time dining, table for 2. After some thought, my husband and I decided to break from tradition. No main dining room, no formal attire, no Windjammer, no large tables, and no commitments other than keeping the comedy show and specialty dining.

 

We loved it, this ranks as one of the best relaxing vacations we have experienced. We spent more time in this suite than we had on all our prior cruises.

 

I will start with photos and my thoughts on aft suite 11330.

 

entrance into suite, closet to my right and to the right is bedroom

 

closet by entrance door

 

 

view of bedroom from entrance hallway

 

 

living area

[volunteer cruiser]

My view through full length window looking out over aquatheater

 

View from my chair looking out living area balcony door

 

draw space in living area, the drawers are full size even though it looks deceiving when they are closed

 

 

 

single cup coffee maker with large pod Starbucks coffee, no plug in for coffee pot on the counter but plug in available for hot water kettle

[volunteer cruiser]

The bedroom also had sliding glass doors leading to the part of the balcony that was private with no view of aquatheater or boardwalk. The bed is a king that is 2 twins on separate frames put together. The bedside table closest to the balcony door is fixed to the wall but the one closest to the entrance door can be moved to separate the beds a few feet. I asked cabin attendant if the beds can be separated and he said no. I think he thought I wanted them apart and he didn't want to mess with it. I see no reason it couldn't be.

 

bedroom closet

 

 

the very private view from bed

 

vanity desk with light up mirror but no magnifying mirror as I am use to in other grand suites

[alexkrn46]

we were also on this cruise in cls we only ate in the main dining room once, we loved the costal kitchen.

[volunteer cruiser]

The bathroom is significantly smaller than the grand suites I have been in. My husband is 5 foot 11 inch and had an inch extra head room in the shower but preferred to sit on corner seat for his shower. I loved the deep soaking tub. The only thing about the room that grossed me out was the extra long cloth shower curtain. After a good wipe down with my bleach wipes, it hung outside the tub. The glass panel did an adequate job of keeping water in side the tub.

 

 

 

 

[volunteer cruiser]

We spent so much time on the balcony just sitting watching the waves or people watching in aquatheater, rock wall or boardwalk balconies. There was always a spot that had shade. We had lobster diner on balcony day 5 formal night.

 

Standing by livingroom door looking aft

 

standing by bedroom door, looking forward, we only saw people in balcony next to us one time at sail away

 

looking forward

 

looking to starboard side aquatheater suites

 

sitting on bar stools looking at show

[riclop]

Thanks for the beautiful pictures.

[3OhioCruisers]

Thanks for the review

[volunteer cruiser]

List of diamond plus benefits

 

I made the most of our newly acquired diamond plus benefits. I selected a bottle of chardonnay for stateroom gift and ordered a bottle of Amstel light for my husband. I used the benefits highlighted. For the BOGO wine or beer, in Vintages, I ordered a glass of Caymus cabernet sauvignon special selection for $39.00 and got a second free. On another day I ordered the regular Caymus cab for 25% off of $25.00. Both wines are very good. Lance ordered a Stella in Central Park and got another one free for his bogo before I could suggest a different beer. In hindsight he would have ordered Chimay ale in a large bottle with cork for $19 then gotten one free. He did use his 25% off for a bottle.

 

We both received a free photo and on Sunday for lunch we went to Johnny Rockets and used bogo for milkshakes with our lunch.

 

We used internet benefit of $59.90 off one week one device package, regular cost of $70 and we got it for $10. I thought that was pretty good for a whole week. We face timed family (Lance's dad was in hospital) and kept caught up on email. I also am trying to get a good deal on airfare to San Juan this June so I checked periodically for sales but no luck.

[volunteer cruiser]

We did go into the diamond lounge, deck 11 one evening about 6 before diner but it was so crowded. We could have gone to the suite lounge but went to central park and Lance used his 3 preloaded alcoholic beverages for beers at the trellis bar.

 

Some evenings before 8:30PM, Lance was able to get all 3 beers at once, with only one opened. We took the other two to the room and he drank them on the balcony.

[suzyluvs2cruise]

 

I made the most of our newly acquired diamond plus benefits. I selected a bottle of chardonnay for stateroom gift and ordered a bottle of Amstel light for my husband. I used the benefits highlighted. For the BOGO wine or beer, in Vintages, I ordered a glass of Caymus cabernet sauvignon special selection for $39.00 and got a second free. On another day I ordered the regular Caymus cab for 25% off of $25.00. Both wines are very good. Lance ordered a Stella in Central Park and got another one free for his bogo before I could suggest a different beer. In hindsight he would have ordered Chimay ale in a large bottle with cork for $19 then gotten one free. He did use his 25% off for a bottle.

 

Thanks for the pics and commentary on your Oasis cruise. We board Nov 7. We plan to use our BOGO wine coupons in Vintages for Caymus too. Good choice. :)

[volunteer cruiser]

Dining: We never ate in main dining room or Windjammer. Day 1 and 7 we ate in 150 Central Park. The service, ambience, food and wine were perfect. Lance is usually a beer drinker but he opted for the wine pairing with me. Both menus were excellent and I can't decide which I liked best but the first menus chocolate desert was my favorite over the second menus grapefruit vanilla cake. I don't have many food photos only a few that stood out.

 

 

Day 2 we ate in Giovanni's table. This was a formal night. The meal was very good but the restaurant was busy and very noisy. It was a bit hard to carry on a conversation without rising my voice. I really enjoyed the wine our server recommended. I will take a picture of a bottle of wine I like so I can remember to look it up in my wine store at home.

 

 

Day 3 was at Coastal Kitchen. The restaurant is beautiful. The tables are not too close together. The flat breads are very delicious. Our server got Lance his usual Amstel light from the bar. As for me, since drinking the wine in 150 Central Park, Giovanni's, and Vintages, my usually complimentary white zin and merlot just seemed to not to be as good, so I passed. I had for dessert the salted carmel pudding. It has tasty.

 

Day 4 was casual for us. Lance wore nice shorts in Sabor. I have eaten in Sabor on Navigator and it's atmosphere was more formal like Chops or Giovannis. The food was great. Lance ordered the tasting menu and I got guacamole and 2 margaritas. I don't like spicy so I played it safe. Lance shared the desert box. It was good.

 

Day 5 was another formal night. We stayed in and ordered 2 lobster diners from the suite guest in room dining option. It was perfect and will definitely eat on our balcony on future cruises.

 

 

We started at sunset.

 

 

and ended with the moon rising

[volunteer cruiser]

Day 6 was diner in Izumi sushi side. Our server was attentive, the restaurant was not crowded, and the food good. I had the two signature lobster rolls. We probably won't go back to this restaurant on future cruises. I thought the prices were a bit high and truthfully I like our neighbor sushi bar better. But we had to try it to see for ourselves.

 

We ended this great cruise at 150 Central Park for Day 7. Just a little note from our server. We were served a 4 course menu on this cruise. He stated that starting on the next cruise after us, the menu was going back to 6 course. Apparently management was trying to get more people to try 150 and changed to the 4 course hoping it would but apparently it didn't work. On this cruise 150 was by far our favorite.

 

For breakfast we ordered room service once on Labadee morning, Day 3 and it was good. The coffee is not to our liking, so one of us would get coffee from the espresso machine in the diamond lounge each morning. The other mornings we would get fruit, smoked salmon and bagel from diamond lounge. It sure was nice being on same floor.

 

Lunch: on embarkation day 1 we had the buffet in the suite lounge. They had nice offerings and of course my favorites cheese and smoked salmon. Lance had paella. Day 2 lunch was Johnny Rockets. Excellent milk shakes and burgers but the fries not as good as the fries served in Coastal Kitchen for lunch.

 

 

Day 3 we had lunch on Barefoot beach at the buffett. The had shrimp skewers, fish, steak, burgers, and hot dogs. I don't remember seeing ribs. I enjoyed the variety of salads. Day 4 after walking around Falmouth, we had lunch at about 1:30 in Park Café. It was not too crowded at that time. Lance enjoyed a Cuban panini and I had a made to order salad. It was not chopped as I remembered from my Allure cruise.

 

Day 5 lunch in Vintages. We loved the tapas menus and the wine.

 

 

 

 

Next up: lunch at Coastal Kitchen, suite deck 17 cabanas, and barefoot beach hillside cabana 3

[volunteer cruiser]

Lunch in Coastal Kitchen was amazing and wish we would have gone before the last day. The roasted beet salad was delicious and was their signature flat bread. I had to try the olive oil ice cream that tasted just like snow cream. It was wonderful.

 

taken at diner at 6:30 PM

 

roasted beet salad

[volunteer cruiser]

Photos of a cabana on deck 17 suite sun deck. There are 4 that face forward over the solarium.

 

The view forward

 

 

The top is slats, not completely shaded

 

view from solarium looking up to cabanas

[volunteer cruiser]

barefoot beach hillside cabana 3, located on left hand side facing water

 

stairs leading up

 

back of cabana

 

 

 

[volunteer cruiser]

the view below, the roof is of over the water cabana 5

 

to the right

 

to the left, that is hillside 4

 

view over the top of Lance's book

[volunteer cruiser]

We loved the location of this cabana. Shade lasted until about 3 PM. It was quiet. We did bring a small speaker box and played my cruise tunes. I originally wanted to rent beach 2 but glad I switch. Our cost was $225. We had the best attendant, Serge, who checked on us every 30 minutes, got us extra towels, floating mats, and bar drinks. His English was pretty good; he said he just started this job.

 

[zteamtwo]

Great review. Sailing in a mid ship GS this Nov. What kind of tipping did you do at CK? How was the happy hour snacks?

[Charger2008]

My husband and I returned from a fantastic cruise onboard Oasis from 10/24 to 10/31 that has probably set the template for how we will cruise in the future.

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We have this room booked in February and we too got an AMAZING deal on the price. When I look at pricing now, just a regular Grand Suite is almost $5,000 more than what we paid :D

 

Thanks for the review and pictures. I think we too will be skipping formal nights and the MDR and trying some of the places you mentioned AND, didn't even think about the in-room options. THANK YOU :)

[TheTruthCanHurt]

I was on oasis in septmeber. on top of the PP grats. I gave the Maitre D an extra $20.00 and I gave the bartender that I always saw an extra $20

 

I have another cruise on the oasis in a few weeks, I LOVED the CK will eat there probably almost every night. I will probably tip more as in retrospect, for the level of service I got, the additional $20.00 was probably not enough

 

 

To be honest, I loved the CK so much, I will, from now on, sail in a GS or above so that I can get the benefits of CK

[volunteer cruiser]

Great review. Sailing in a mid ship GS this Nov. What kind of tipping did you do at CK? How was the happy hour snacks?

 

We did $5 for lunch and $10 for dinner. The service and meals were outstanding. My husband committed on how observant our server was at diner, bringing him a new beer as he finished the last swallow. We have an allowance for tipping and we came under budget this time.

 

Suite snacks from 5 to 8:30 were great. Cheese, tapas, veggies, hot wings, egg rolls, other hot stuff and sweets.

[zteamtwo]

Thanks for the info about tipping, etc. Did you have to make reservations for CK dinner and lunch? How crowded was the Concierge Lounge at happy hour?

[volunteer cruiser]

Thanks for the info about tipping, etc. Did you have to make reservations for CK dinner and lunch? How crowded was the Concierge Lounge at happy hour?

 

Day of embarkation go to suite lounge for Buffet lunch and drinks. Staff from coastal kitchen will be available to take reservations for diner. No ressies needed for lunch. The times for lunch will be included in letter in the benefits folder in your stateroom. I also noticed other staff soliciting ressies for the other specialty resturants.

 

The concierge lounge is called the suite lounge on oasis. It was a little crowded first day. We went two other evenings and there were always seats available. The diamond lounge was always crowded at happy hour, Lance got beer and left.

[TheInnocentAge]

Thanks for the review, and especially for the pictures. We will be in GS 11330 in April, and like you we booked early when the prices were much lower. Did you hear much noise from the rock wall bell?

 

We were also just on Oasis last week (10/31 - 11/7), and made good use of those suite perks you mentioned.

 

Happy cruising!